Candy Land

"Candy Land" is another entry in the seemingly never-ending stream of throwback exploitation/horror to 'back when the genre was still harsh and relentless. I normally would have passed, since too often these movies are incredibly disappointing, but gave it a chance after several friends and fellow reviewers (with whom I usually agree) said it was good and really worth checking out.

Guess what, ... it is! "Candy Land" is a refreshingly original and authentically gritty exploitation wild-ride, with strong performances from plausible actresses/actors, plenty of uncanny violence, and an extremely persuasive underbelly-of-America ambiance. Writer/director John Swab gives a realistic portrayal of a seedy truck-stop and roadside motel (I reckon, at least, it's not as if I visit those places very often).

A close group of sex workers at truck stop Candy Land shelter and care for a naïve and vulnerable young woman when she gets exiled from the fanatically religious sect she grew up in. The girl - Remy - gradually becomes a "lot lizard" herself, but the impressive wooden crucifix she carries around everywhere reveals that she might have a hidden agenda.

"Candy Land" benefices from extremely powerful and explicit opening sequences, as if John Swab promptly intends to make very clear that he's not about to conceal or romanticize anything in his film. We're talking about rough, emotionless sex sequences in filthy toilets or dark truck cabins, and brutal confrontations between prostitutes & God-freaks. The most intelligent and effective trick Swab pulls off, however, is that he patiently takes time to introduce the lead characters, and basically obliges the audience to sympathize and cheer for a band of prostitutes. And it works, too. Sadie, Levi, Riley, and Liv are sublime characters. Heck, even the cuckoo Remy and the imposing "Madame" Nora are somewhat likeable. Only the customers and sect-members are truly appalling. And maybe also William Baldwin, who puts down a courageous performance as the Sheriff.

Review title inspired by Iggy Pop's song "Candy"

Candy Land looks like a B-movie, feels like a B-movie, is a B-movie. Not that aren't good B-movies, but this one is just not one of them. The story is just a bit stupid. Plenty of murders, no investigations whatsoever, nobody slightly worried about the rising death toll, it's just bad writing. The acting is just average, certainly no award winners here. William Baldwin, the less famous one of the family, plays the sheriff, you wonder how he got that job as he's not slightly interested in doing any police work. He acts okay but his character is just dumb. I wouldn't waste my time with this one if I were you, there are much better movies than Candy Land.

It's 1996. Sadie (Sam Quartin), Riley (Eden Brolin), Levi (Owen Campbell), and Liv (Virginia de Witt) are prostitutes working a truck stop in the desert, locally known as Candy Land. Sheriff Rex (William Baldwin) often makes sexual demands on Levi. Nora (Guinevere Turner) is their madam. Remy (Olivia Luccardi) is a runaway from the local religious cult who befriends the group.

As an inside expose on this underworld, this has its moments. As a horror, it runs into a few problems. The biggest one is that it needs more mystery. The movie needs to deliver some red herrings to throw off suspicions. It's probably trying to suggest an unknown someone from the cult. The killer is too obvious and it's soon revealed anyways. This is partly interesting, but could be so much better.

This is one of the earlier releases into 2023 that I heard about. I'm guessing it did its festival run last year. Other than that, I knew this was a slasher and voices in the horror community were positive about it. I decided to rent this one since there wasn't a new release at my theater in genre for a Featured Review on Journey with a Cinephile: A Horror Movie Podcast. I've also given it a second watch to see where I stood as well for my end of year.

Synopsis: a seemingly naïve and devout young woman finds her way in the underground world of truck stop sex workers a.k.a. 'lot lizards'.

That is a solid recap without spoiling. The title of the movie is a nick name for this specific truck stop where everything is happening. We follow a group of prostitutes that work it. There is Sadie (Sam Quartin). She works there with Liv (Virginia Rand). They are also dating. We also have Riley (Eden Brolin) and Levi (Owen Campbell). Their madame is Nora (Guinevere Turner). She allows them to stay in a nearby motel. There is a variety of ways they turn tricks, which gives us the rundown.

Outside of truckers, there are also others that frequent this stop. Sheriff Rex (William Baldwin) protects them in a way. He also frequents Levi's services. There is a religious sect that goes there as well. They are led by Theo (Brad Carter). He is a religious preacher who tries to give our group fliers about repenting. Liv makes a lewd comment and flashes him. He is there in a van of followers, including Remy (Olivia Luccardi) and her brother Jonah (Laevin Story).

To go back to the synopsis, the naïve and devout young woman is Remy. She is taken in by Sadie and the others of this group after being ostracized from hers. Nora even helps her. They explain the ropes to her and since she doesn't have a plan, if she wants to stay here, then she needs to earn her keep. Things aren't as they seem and she might not be as meek as they believe. A man is murdered in a stall and that is just the start. It seems that a john might have done the slaying, but there is also this religious group as well.

That is where I'm going to leave my recap and introduction to the characters. I decided to go a bit brief on my recap and try to spoil this. Something that I realize I didn't share is that this takes place in 1996. It doesn't necessarily feel like it though. They aren't in your face about it and I believe the reason to set this when they did correlates to how close timewise to something in the end. This mimics a real event. This is its own story, but what we see is similar.

Now that taken care of, I rather enjoyed what this movie was doing. This takes care about the details of what it takes to be a truck stop sex worker. In doing this, we see how close this group is. It almost feels like a family. They hang out and they take care of each other. Something else I picked up on is that many of these people don't have any other prospects in life. It is demeaning, but the money is good. They've accepted who they are. It is also scary. What bothers me is that if we just legalized sex work across the United States, we wouldn't situations like we get in this one. They also wouldn't have to fear for their lives either.

Where I'll then shift is this religious group. I'm going to go ahead and call them a cult. They are strict in their beliefs. I do feel bad for Theo. He tries to pass fliers to the girls and Liv is vulgar in her response. I'm not religious and I don't like people pushing their beliefs on me. She goes too far though. I like to think that this shows the dangers of both sides. A negative toward the religious group is that they kick Remy out of the group. We don't fully know the reason. She falls in with this clique and it makes you think one thing. It might be another though and I like how this develops to the resolution. How they manage religious fanatism here is well-done. It isn't in your face, but it is behind the scenes.

I should then get into what sub-genre this falls into. It becomes a slasher. Fairly early we get this man found dead in the bathroom. There is then a scene not too long after where a john is killed. Soon after, Levi is attacked by another. He fights back. It is here that I was wondering if we were going to see these workers at the truck stop taking these customers out. That isn't necessarily the case. I'm not going to go farther than that, but I like where they go. It kept me interested as I'm piecing things together and then just settling in for the ride.

Since this is a slasher, what makes these work for me are two important things. The best slashers for me have either good kills or good characters. This did have both and that pleasantly surprised me. The first is likeable characters. It makes me care about our crew. Quartin, Brolin, Campbell and Rand are good. The best performance though is Luccardi. When she first arrives, she is meek and timid. I like the grow we see in her character. I wasn't expecting it, but I'm also not shocked either. Things come together there. I also thought that Baldwin, Turner and Carter were good. The rest of the cast rounded this out for what was needed.

All that is left is filmmaking. I think this is well done. I'll start with the other thing that makes an effective slasher which is kills. There is a cool weapon here which is a knife that this hidden inside of an item that a character clutches and it looks innocuous. We don't get a lot of variety with the kills, but that doesn't hurt the movie. The blood was good and it looked practical. I'm a fan there. This ramps up as things go on. I'll give credit as well to the cinematography for how things are framed. That helps the effects. It also has a gritty look to it which fits the setting. We don't get beat over the head with the period used. That helps prevent it from feeling dated as well. Other than that, the soundtrack fit what was needed.

In conclusion, I'm glad that I didn't sleep on this movie for my end of year. This is a solid slasher film that has more under the surface. I like the group of characters we follow. They're a bit crass and vulgar, but they feel real. I care what happens to them. There is good commentary hidden under the surface or you can just watch this a slasher. This was well-made from the effects to the cinematography. I don't know if I can recommend this to everyone due to the images we see. If you like slashers, then I'd say to give this a watch.

My Rating: 8 out of 10.

Candy Land is another good example that it doesn't take a lot of different sets or a huge budget to create a visually appealing work - what a nice cinematography, but even better, what an incredible editing! - that, at the same time, fulfills its goals of entertaining with quality.

All this could seem like a kind of sexploitation. That's what the beginning of the first act implies. Calm down. Let those who already had stones to throw calm down. Let those who thought they were going to watch a porno also calm down. The first 15 minutes show more explicit nudity than what we're used to in North American cinema (which, truth be told, is very limited), but that's pretty much the end of it. Better yet, these women are true characters, all of them are very well built and are dignified by a story that doesn't just want to show their tits nor wants them to be seen only with pity. They do what they have to do, things are going relatively well and they form a real team with moments of real camaraderie that are very well-built. There's also a man in the same circumstances, but Candy Land's greatest triumph is that it's always interesting in the way it tells its story and explores gray areas.

Even when it commits excesses - such slaughter in such a short space of time makes us have to question our credulity in the story - it continues to be a work with something to say and very well constructed. It is in its excesses that it also has many of its virtues, but it is in its simplicity that its characters conquer us. It tells us a lot about prejudice, religious fanaticism, and friendship, without forgetting to entertain us and give us a real bloodbath.